Wooden splash plate assembly



b- 1945. K. c. TEN BRINK ET AL 2,369,264

WOODEN SPLASH PLATE ASSEMBLY Filed NOV. 27, 1942 2 Sheets-Sheet l r I r,v t

/ Arro 5} Feb. 13, 1945. K c. TEN BRINK ETAL 4 2,369,264

WOODEN SPLASH PLATE ASSEMBLY Filed NOV. 27, 1942 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I Z?37 I z? I 28 8 I I 5 5 a /r. c. 75 B'n C 19.19. Ja/ky.

INVENTOR.

over a wide area. l

Patented Feb. 13, 1945 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE t l 2,369,264 t fwooD N SPLASH PLATE ASSEMBLY Karl C. ten Brink; and Allen R. Salley,Houston,

.Tex., assignors to Hudson Engineering Corporation, Houston, Tex., acorporation of Texas I Application November 27, 1942, Serial No. 467,118

scl ims. v(erase 1.21)

Thisinvention relates to the distribution of liquids. and moreparticularly has reference. to a splash. plate assembly for spreadingand distributing a stream of water in droplets uniformly An apparatusfor cooling water for use in condensers and other cooling equipment. inwhich water is sprayed into a body of air for effect-ing It isimportant. that the water be. sprayed as uniformly as possible intotheflowing current of air. In many constructions spray heads or splashdevices are provided for distributingdroplets;of water, which act as.the refrigerating medium.

into theflowing stream of air. It hasbeen found, however, thatthensualspray head. or splash device is not as satisfactory for theproper dis-- refrigeration by evaporation. or absorption of water vaporin the air may comprise various constructions. One widely used form ofsuch apparatusis the cooling tower. which consists in general of anenclosure with some means of spraying the water orother liquid to becooled down through the enclosure, means inside of the enclosure forinterrupting the falling of the liquid, and means for circulating airorsome other cooling. gas l through the enclosure and through thefalling liquid. The enclosure may :beperforate to allow the air to blowthrough but prevent the escapeof the water spray, or it maybe relativelyimperforate and provided with mechanical means either at the top or atthe bottom of the tower for blowing air or gas through the tower andthroughthe falling water.

Frequently at the bottom ofa tower there is provided a means forcollecting the water and causingfitv to now into a header from whiehitis again sprayed on to condenser coils or other coils that are to be.cooled. by the water that has been coo-led in passing through thecooling tower. In the past various types of. spraywheadsfor nozzles havebeen employed for producing: the

spray atthetop of the cooling tower oriover the coils as the case. maybe. Some of these have consisted of plates of various shapesand sizes,sometimes one and sometimes more than one placed in the pathof a streamof 'waterdirected pture that they would get out of adjustment relativelyeasily and frequently become clogged by scale or trash that would getinto the system,

to say nothing of the necessity for cleaning or replacement due tocorrosion or marine growths.

Added to allpthis. is the fact that metal is at present, of course; avery scarce material and practically unavailable except in locationswhere the workis in furtherance of the War. iefiort or wiora highlyessential civilian project. p

through a nipple from a header. Various de- .tribution of water as. itwould seem; ;Further+ sira ble. This is due; primarilyto the fact thatthe spray head or splash device distributes the water over asubstantially circular area.

Obviously, when the water. is sprayed from a head or device of thistype, it is quite impossible to get a, very uniiormdistribution over alarge rectangular area.

An object of this inventionistd provide an apparatus for distributingliquids which will avoid the "disadvantages of the prior art as hereinbefore pointed out. t t t Another object. of this invention is toprovide an apparatus fo the distribution of liquidswhich will serve tobreak up a stream of. liquid .and spray the samev uniformly over a widearea.

A further ()bjectof this invention is to pro: vide a liquid distributingdevicecapable of break ing up a stream of. water and spraying. the samein droplets uniformly over a wide rectangular area... I t t Stillanotherobject of this invention is to provide an apparatus lfo-r thedistribution of liquids in a coolingtower. t

It isa further object of this invention to provide a liquid distributingdevice which will break up;a solid streamtof liquid and uniformly spraythe same overa wide area which jdevice is cons'tructed substantiallyentirely of wood.

A stillyfurtherobject of this invention is to provide a liquiddistributing and spraying device ofthetype herein set forth which isconstructed without the use ofmet'al or othermilitarystnate gicmaterials.

In addition to the foregoing. the: present invention has for an object amethod-of breaking up a stream of 'liquid andspraying thesameuniformlyover a wide area.

With these and [other .obiectsin View, the pres ent invention resides inthe parts and combina tions and the procedure hereinafter set ,forth andillustrated in the drawings.

In the drawings: V v

Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view through a cooling tower equippedwith liquid distributing devices in accordance with the presentinvention.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary view illustrating in plan a liquid distributingdevice in accordance with the present invention.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary elevational View of the structure shown in Fig.2, some parts being shown in section.

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken on line 44 of Fig. 2. i

Fig. 5 is another fragmentary plan view of a modified form of a liquiddistributing device.

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary elevationalview partly in section of thestructure shown in Fig. 5..

Fig. 7 is a sectional view taken on line of.

Fig. 5.

There is shown in the drawings a cooling apparatus in the form of atower For purposes of illustration, only the framework of the tower hasbeen shown but in actual construction, a covering of sheathing or othersuitable material will be applied to form the exterior skin thereof. Thebase of the cooling tower is supported upon the bottom of a concretebasin 2 which serves as a catch basin for the water which is sprayeddownwardly through the tower.

Extending upwardly from the floor of the basin 2 are a plurality ofcolumns 3 which are braced at their lower portions by a plurality ofdiagonally extending members 4. A plurality of horizontal beams 5 extendlongitudinally of the tower and a'plurality of horizontal beams 6 extendtransversely of the tower.

At the lower portion of the tower the horizontal beams 1 project beyondthe outermost columns 3 and are secured to upright members 8 on eachside of the tower. The uprights 8 define the outer walls of a coil shedat the lower portion of the tower. Within this shed there are positioneda plurality of coils 9 over which cooling water is sprayed. These coils9 are supported in channel beams Ill (Fig. 6) which extend horizontallytransversely of the tower and bear on beams II, the latter being securedto the columns 3.

Tower I is provided with what may be termed a false bottom in the formof a water collecting box. This box is formed by a floor I3 whichinclines from the side walls of the tower toward the central or someother intermediate position so that any liquid which falls on the saidfloor will flow toward the sump M for collection.

" Conduits l5 extend laterally from the sides of sump I4 and areprovided with a plurality of discharge nozzles H5. The tower may bedivided longitudinally thereof into a plurality of sections and eachsection may be provided with an individual collection box constructed asdescribed.

Immediately above the collection box floor at one side of the towerthere is provided one or more fans I! which may be driven by individualelectric motors l8 or other power device. The blades of the fans arepositioned for rotation withinfunnel-like guards |9 whichopen into thside of the tower and serve to force a stream 01 air into the portion ofthe tower above the floor I3. The air introduced into this portion ofthe tower by fans flows upwardly by reason of the imperforate nature ofthe skin of the tower and is discharged through the top thereof. Forthis purpose, the upper portion of the tower is provided with aplurality of spaced slats which also serve as mist breakers. i r

Intermediate the collection box and the top of the tower, there areprovided a plurality of breakers comprising side support bars 2|inclined relative to the vertical and supported by the beams 6, andspaced transverse slats 22, preferably of triangular cross section,carried on the side bars 2|. Air introduced into the tower by means ofthe fan I! flows upwardly through the The breakers may be staggered andarranged in any desired relation to produce the most effectiveoperation. They serve to provide large surfaces on which the water orother liquid may'spread out to facilitate its contact with the risinga1r.

Positioned above the breakers 2| are a plurality of liquid distributingdevices 23 onto which water is deposited from suitable nipples 24 proapair of spaced bats or slats 30 of triangular cross section, the base ofsaid bats or slats lying in engagement with the upper surfaces of thetie strips '29. Intermediate the slats 30 is another bat or slat 3| oftriangular cross section. This bat or slat 3| is inverted in that thewide base or bottom surface is positioned upwardly and the apex of saidstrip engages the upper surfaces of the tie strips 29. In order toeffectively secure the intermediate bat or slat 3| in position andrelation to the other bats 3|] a strip 32 is fastened to the uppersurface adjacent each end thereof and extends laterally therefrom torest upon the apices of the adjacent slats 30.

As is more clearly shown in Fig. 4 the assembly of slats 30 and 3| ispositioned so that the center slat 3| lies directly under the nozzles ornipples 24. When in this position a solid stream of water from thenozzle or nipple 24 is discharged onto the upper flat horizontal surfaceof slat or bat 3| and splashed outwardly. The distance between thenipple and slat 3| is not critical and may vary from one inch to severalfeet, the only limitation being that it be close enough to the nipple sothat the stream of water from the nipple will not become a spray beforeit reaches the splash assembly, and that it be far enough from thenipple so that the splash from the assembly will not be interfered withby the nipple or header. When the stream strikes this central slat ofthe assembly it spreads in all directions. Part of it runs along theslat towards its opposite ends and build up a substantial layer of wateron the slat, this water gradually running off the sides of the slats allthe way to the end of the slat. The water which runs off the sides ofthe slats breaks up, part of it adhering to the under surfaces of thetriangular central slat and running down to drip off the lower edgethereof and part of it dripping off as it goe down with some of itstriking the other two slats. This forms a I fairly evenly distributedspray directly beneath 1a wide-area. a a a p i "While the slats 30 andal. have'been described 3 t as of triangular cross section, theym'a'y beoffrec i .unevaporated water.

fflg sfijflfifi Edges and most or it is deflectedioutwardly and afupwardlyandforms a well distributed spray over tangular cross section.in this instance the cen- I ter slat would he positioned with its flat:sur-y race horizohtalp'and thetwo side slats would be positioned withtheir flat surfaces inclined at an I angle corresponding to that "oftheinclinedsurfaces of the triangular slats. Thus themost inr- 1 ortantsurfaces of the] s1atsarc the upper flat 1 "surface of the center slat,"and the inclined surfacebfthe other two slats which are adjacent the}center slat. ,I'Ihe inclined surfaces oi the two outerjslats shouldextend up to a level about even lwith the flat horizontal surface of thecenter slat .to produce the desired results.

. p In sssmbu g the slatsthey should bef p csd to produce the desiredresults. This can be det'ermined by varyingthe spacing with slatsof agiven width or sizeand after it has been asspaced. a h

The spray resulting from the splashing of the Evaporation or absorptionof the moisture inthe nipples I6 onto the coils :9.

In order to break up the solid stream of water 1 and evenly distributethe same over the coils, ad- 1 ditional splash assemblies 33 areprovided.

These splash assemblies are constructed subinsFigs. 5 and 6. i In thisconnection, it willbc noted thatjthere is a pair of slats 31 of triangular cross section positioned on the tie strip 3Bw1th I the flat baseportions lying against said tiestrips.

Positioned intermediately of saidslats 31' is an other slat 38oftriangular cross section which disuinverted in that the apex thereoflies upon the tie strips 36. The intermediate slat 38 is "held inposition in the samemanncr as the intermediate slat 3| of the structureshown in Figures 2 to 4 in that a strip 39 is securedto the upper hatsurface of the slat and extends laterally from the sides thereof to lieupon the apices of the outer slats 31. i l The splash "assemblies the.nozzles or nipples l6 from "which a solid othei' sets of slatscaniwbesimilarly 40 tstantially identically to those described andshownin Figs. 2 to 4 of the drawings and are. mounted upon the channelbeams l which-support the coils 9, As is best illustrated in Fig. of thedrawings the splash assemblies 33 com- .Hprise end strips 34 which areadapted to lie upon 3 the upper flange of the channel beams l0. EX- atending downwardly from each of the strips 4 and overlying the outerwebof the channelbeam i0.

{is a guide strip 35. On theinn l' porticnof the fend strip 34 there issecured ati'e strip 36which mcorresponds to the tie strip 23 "of thesplash as- -sembly illustrated inFi gslto 4. j The coils 9 are locatedbetween the pairsfor channel beams. ID andthe slats of the splash as-jsembly; extend between the endstripson the pair 3 i q of beams it]. Forthis purpose. the end of the 1 slats are secured tothe tiestripsasillustrated 33 are located so that the center slat 38 will lieimmediately beneath stream of liquid is discharged The solid stream ofliquid discharged from the nozzle It will fall upon the upper horizontalflat surface or the center strip 38 and will splash outwardly in thesame manner as was described inco'nnectionwith the structure shqwninFigs. 2 to 4.

Since the splash assemblies 33 are to uniformly spray water uponthecoils 9,-it is ob vious that for maximum efficiency the spray shouldhave a rectangular pattern corresponding to the shape of the con 9.Inaccordance with t the presentinvention; the streamof water broken upby the splash assembly can loe HfiifOIll'llYdiS'. tributed inarectangular pattern by the provision H of surfaces positioned tointercept a portion of the liquid deflected upwardly by the inclined surfaces ofthe outer slats 31. Forjthispurpose, a

pairof slats 40 are secured upon the upperedges Of the end strips34.-Slats 4llare positionedwith one surface substantially vertical andlying outwardlysof the slats 31 and above the same. Byfl locating thevertical surfaces of'the slats 411, as

described, theupwardly deflected portion of the splash Willlberedflected inwardly toward the center of the assembly and will falluniformly i with the other broken upliquid to produce a use 7 formpattern of rectangular cross section.

Upon'first consideration, it may appear that the location of the slats40 would tend. to concentratethe spray along the straightlinebound-,aryprovided therebyQbut actually this is notthe case becausejalthoughpart otf thespray drops directly from the slats 4ll,part of'itrebounds'so 1 that thespray which wouldotherwisego to make uptheremainder of the circular pattern. is :fairly well distributed overthe rectangular area definedbetween the slats '40.

' By providing the; guide strip 35 on the outer surfaces of the endstrips34; the splash assembly 33 is eflfectively mounted uponthe channelbeams I in a definiterelation with respect to the nozfizles or. nipples16 which discharge a stream of liquid from the conduit l5. U My It willbe noted that between theendsof the series of threeslats thereareprovided tie strips "29 and 36: These serve to maintain correotspac-.ing of the slats for the liquid. The splash'assemblies 23 and 33operateonthe same principle as hereinbefore. described. a?

Each of the splash assemblies of the present invention is made of woodand employs nc .critical materialsexcept a fewnails of noncorrosive lmaterial. It will not become clogged with scale or debris ofvarioustypes, it will not corrode, and

marinegrowths which might possibly form on it will haveflittle or;no;effect upon its efiiciency.

(Added to this is the fact that it possesses an ex- 'trelnely highdegree of efficiency in spreading and j evenly distributing water inafspray (War a wide area, it require no critical adjustments,.and oncein place will not get out of adjustment, and it very cheap and. simpleto manufacture.

. The sizes of the slats, their spacingrelatively to each other and withrespect to the nozzles-and their length are determined by thesizes o-fthe.

streams of' water to be distributed and the area over which distributionis to be effected.

In constructing the splash assemblies theslats flare made of a lengthcorresponding to the length of the'area to be sprayed. Of course, theeoncentrationk of the spray will depend upon the lengths of the slatsand the area tube sprayed.

Spacing between the strips is determined by trial andv error and afterthe best results are obtained serve to on the area over which it isdistributed. In any event the width of the upper surface of the centerstrip should be as large as the interior diameter of the nipples ornozzles from which water is discharged onto the slats.

In the splashassembly the upper flat surface of the center slat and theadjacent inclined surfaces of the side slats are the important portionsof the slats and so long as these three surfaces are provided in therelation described, the slats may have any geometrical form, thtriangular form being merely convenient and economical.

From the foregoing description it will be ap- 1y upwardly and away fromand partly downwardly beneath the first strip, and means positionedabove and spaced laterally outwardly of the second strip to receive andredirect the liquid deflected upwardly by the second strip.

4. A liquid distributing device comprising a;

elongated strip of triangular cross section posi- 'tioned with one ofits surfaces upward and sub- 'fWI lth inclined surfaces substantiallyparallel to preciated that the present invention'provides for theuniform distribution of liquid over a Wide area .in a simple manner withlow cost equipment.

While the invention has been shown associated with a water cooling towerof the mechanical draft type, having a coil shed to show the applicationof splash assemblies 33, it may be used with water towers of theatmospheric or natural draft type and with any other apparatus whichrequires the breaking up of a solid streamof liquid and. the spraying ofthe same over wide and-controlled areas. The methods of moi'intingshownvin Figures 1,2, 3 and 6 are simply suggested for I use in the towershown as an illustration, but

changes in the method of mounting wouldin no way affectthe essentialfeatures of this invention.

Having described our invention, we claim: 1. A method of spraying aliquid comprising playing a solidstream of water downwardly onto asubstantially horizontal surface and thereby causing the liquid to fanoutlaterally in opposite directions, intercepting said fanned outportions of said stream and deflecting said portions partly upwardly andlaterally away from the original tream and partly downwardly andinwardly beneath said surface, the directions of deflection being suchas to effect uniform spraying of the liquid over a given area. i

2. A liquid distributing device comprising a I member having anelongated substantially horifaces substantially horizontal, means fordirecting a solid stream of a. liquid substantially-perthe inclinedsurfaces of'the first strip.

5. A splash assembly comprising spaced horizonta-lly disposed supports,a pair of strips of triangular cross sectionmounted in spaced parallelrelation on said supports, each with one surface horizontal and bearingon said supports, a third strip of triangular cross section, means forsupporting said third strip between the firstmentioned strips in spacedrelation thereto with one. flat surface horizontal and upward inalignment with the apices of the first-mentioned strips, and means fordirecting a solid stream of water perpendicularly onto the upper fiatsurface of the third strip.

6. A liquid distributing device comprising an elongated slat having aflat surface positioned upward and substantially horizontal, means fordirecting a stream of liquid substantially perpendicularly onto saidsurface, a pair of spaced strips one positioned on each side of andlaterally spaced from the slat, said strips each having a fiat surfaceinclined'downwardly and inwardly towards said slat, the strips being soplaced relative to the slat that with a given force of discharge of saidstream water is deflected from the upward surface of the slat onto saidinclined surfaces of said strips. v

7. A liquid distributing device comprising a member having asubstantially horizontally disposed surface, means for discharging anunbroken stream of liquid downwardly onto said surface and in adirection substantially perpendicularly thereto, a bafile positioned oneach side of said member and spaced therefrom, each bafile having asurface extending downwardly from a position level with the surface ofsaid member inwardly towards said member to intercept portions of thetransversely directed splash from the surface of said member beneathsaid member.

pendicularly onto said surface, a second elongated strip laterallyspaced from one edge of the first mentioned strip and having asurfacepositioned to receive a portion of the stream splashed from thesurface of the first mentioned strip, the surface of the second stripbeing so inclined relatively to the surface of the first strip as todeflect the portion of the stream received therebypart- 8. A liquiddistributing device comprising an elongated slat having a flat surfacepositioned upward and substantially horizontal, means for directing astream of liquid substantially perpendicularly onto said surface, a pairof spaced strips one positioned on each side of and laterally spacedfrom the slat, said strips each having a fiat surface inclineddownwardlyand inwardly towards said slat, the strips being .so.

placed relative to the slat that with a given force of discharge of saidstream wateris deflected from the'upward surface of the slat onto saidinclined surfaces of said strips, said flat surface having a width asgreat as the major dimension of the cross section of the stream at theregion of impingement thereon.

KARL C. TEN BRINK. ALLEN R. SALLEY.

